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Bushwick Residents Up In Arms Over KHAAAN!
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 21, 2010
Modified Apr 21, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 21, 2010
Modified Apr 21, 2010
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A new luxury condo building in Bushwick was originally advertised as an upscale addition to the neighborhood, one that neighbors hoped would lead to gentrification—but a twist in the story has reduced those same neighbors to agonized cries of "KHAAAN!"
Instead of hipsters, helpsters or breeders moving in, a halfway house for drug addicts moved into the building on Willoughby Ave. And it's run by Ashley Khan, a 35-year-old ex-con who runs a for-profit company, Global Humanitarian Service (which doesn't have a website). Neighbors seem particularly steamed at the lack of oversight on the halfway house: "Nobody's watching what they're doing," said local resident Evett Villafane, 52.
Developer Benjamin Glasser invested $3.8 million in the condo project, which has floor-to-ceiling windows, balconies and roof decks. By 2007, he was selling each of the eight units for nearly $700,000 each, but between construction delays and the real estate collapse, many would-be buyers backed out. Instead, he leased it to Khan, who was on parole for robbery at the time. Khan has no staff and provides no support services, but claims experience running several halfway houses in the past, and administers drug tests to occupants himself.
The units are now filled with bunk beds; he rents an adjoining luxury penthouse to models in town for photo shoots. "I really want to help people. I want to save the world," he told the Daily News. The tension with neighbors has been palpable: "I'm very street. I've been that way the last couple months dealing with this block. They brought out something in me I didn't know I had in me anymore." But neighbor Villafane complained: "You need a license to get married. You need a license to drive a car. You don't need a license to open a halfway house?"
Tagged
brooklyn
bushwick
gentrification
halfway home
khan
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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